Crossing the Wire

Crossing the Wire was an interesting novel. I have had a lot of experience with these kinds of stories growing up in Pasco, which has huge population of Hispanic migrant families. It is hard to hear how their families are torn apart by these borders. Hobbs gives a pretty accurate account of undocumented peoples travels across the border as compared to what I have heard around where I am from. They pay these people to help them across and they are trusting them with their very lives. Just like in the novel Sold it is so easy for these people to be exploited in their position being in poverty and being undocumented. I also thought it was interesting how people did not want to help him because they were undocumented. I know that is a huge issue in Tri-Cities. A lot of people are extremely prejudice and do not what to help Mexican migrant workers at all and are extremely against them being here. People don't realize though that them working in the fields for our farmers makes their groceries expensive. If we did have these workers who are working for less, the farmers would have to increase the price of their product to make a profit, so we would be paying more. I think people who are extremely against undocumented workers don't even think about that. It helps both them, their families and our families here. We should have regulations to protect them and some kinds of controls and limits, but it should be more open than it is now. In Crossing the Wire we see all of the repercussions and stress that these borders put on Victor and his family. Rico ends up not even being able to stay even though he endures though all the way through the trip, because it is not exactly a welcoming culture to come into. I thought it was also interesting that they ended up in Dayton Washington. I have been there a couple times. didn't really think of it as being a place that migrant workers worked very often. We have a lot of migrant workers in Pasco and all over Tri-cities in the apple orchards and grape vineyards. I know that they recently changed some regulations so know farmers have to have a social security card number for all their workers which has made it really hard for these families to find work here even though they might have been working in fields here for years. It is not fair that they families have to face this kind of oppression here when they are providing a service for American families that is so crucial to us. What these families have to go through to survive is awful. And I am sure an American family facing the same strife would do what Victor did to make sure his family would have a fighting chance.